Howard Root

Among the Mohegans: a Puritan's Tale of Passage Howard Root

As the youngest son of a tenant farmer in England's Puritan heartland, twenty-year-old Jonathan Smythe foresees himself trapped forever in a life of servitude to his older brother. Anxious to temporarily escape his worries, Jonathan heads on a secret poaching trip with a friend that quickly turns disastrous when the men are captured by Lord Kingley's thugs. After his friend is mercilessly killed, Jonathan vows revenge and later bludgeons the thugs' leader to death. With a murder decree hanging over his head, Jonathan has no choice but to flee England. Following his father's plan, Jonathan travels to Barbados and begins a life of indentured servitude on his uncle's tobacco plantation. Jonathan arrives committed to five years of hard work that begins at sunrise and is motivated by the overseer's whip. Driven by dreams of owning fertile land without slaves, Jonathan fulfills his duty and embarks on a dangerous journey to the English colonies. But little does he know that his pilgrimage to a new life will be more demanding than he ever imagined, involving desperate battles and massacres with Native Americans after he finally reaches the Bay Colony. When Jonathan befriends Running Wolf, a Mohegan ally, he may finally find passage to his true passions and self. In this compelling tale, a young Puritan man must face raw challenges that test his faith and life in a new world as he searches for his destiny.